Thursday, October 25, 2012

By the way, it is perfectly legal to photograph police (but it may not prudent)

The RCMP don't like being photographed.

This sounds familiar - RCMP who don't want to be photographed or subject to review. So they demand a photograph be deleted and if it is not the arrest the photographer and claim he or she was causing a disturbance.

"A B.C. teen who aspires to be a journalist says his rights were violated when he was set upon by security guards and then arrested by police after photographing an incident at Metrotown shopping mall in Burnaby, B.C.

Jakub Markiewicz , 16, said he was in the mall in September and took a picture of what he thought was a newsworthy event — a man being arrested by security guards.

But Markiewicz said the guards quickly turned on him, demanding he delete the photo, which he couldn't do because he was shooting on a film camera.

Markiewicz said he turned to leave the mall and then snapped a second shot as RCMP arrived.

He said the security guards held him, attempting to grab his camera, and he was pushed to the ground. He said he then tried to use his body to protect two cameras he carried in his bag.

"They're just yelling and screaming, and just telling me to stop resisting," Markiewicz said.

He admits he started swearing and was then handcuffed by police and taken outside the mall to an RCMP cruiser by the officers and mall security.

Markiewicz said the guards again demanded he delete the photos and he told them once more he couldn't.

He said the Mounties could not remove his backpack while he was handcuffed so they cut it off his back with a utility knife and searched it.

"I was like, just perplexed. I was like, 'What's going on here, why am I being treated like this,'" he said.

Burnaby RCMP say Markiewicz was arrested for causing a disturbance, but was not charged. He has, however, been banned from Metrotown mall for six months."

This is Jakub Markiewicz. I am making this comment from my IT class gmail account. To anon #1, I have taken two pictures: first was of mall security, a suspect, and presumably undercover mall security. The second, was ONLY of two RCMP officers, and the same suspect from the first photograph. You would know this if you bothered to watch the CBC video or article (origin of news piece).

To James C Morton: Thank you for not posting a screen shot of my picture from the CBC article, like many other news agencies/blogs have done so.